Four decades into stand-up, Pauly Shore is plotting his next act.
Our favorite Buddy visits TigerBelly in his dapper threads! But the biggest news is not an old feud or another road story. Pauly Shore says 2026 marks his 40th year doing stand-up — and next year he wants to pull back from touring so he can put more of himself back into acting.
Shore says he loves acting, misses acting and wants to get off the road more to pursue it again. He also talks about his new special Road Comic and the short film Remain Calm, made with Nick Swardson, as part of a bigger creative pivot after decades of club dates and constant travel.
Pauly Shore on TigerBelly
After 40 years on the road, Pauly Shore wants his next act.
Shore says he plans to pull back from stand-up touring, return to acting and keep building new projects — while still finding time to reopen old wounds with Bobby Lee.
Some links may be affiliate links. INYIM may earn from qualifying purchases.
After 40 Years of Stand-Up, Pauly Shore Says He Wants to Act Again
Shore also marks 2026 as his 40th year doing stand-up, which makes the episode’s mix of nostalgia and career reassessment hit differently. He talks about decades of playing clubs and smaller markets, but says next year he wants to take some time off the road and put more energy into acting again.
That includes Remain Calm, a short film he made with Nick Swardson that Shore says he hopes can grow into a feature, plus a new comedy special titled Road Comic. He also tells the crew he is getting back into acting class. For a guy who has spent four decades being Pauly Shore in public, there is something unexpectedly sweet about hearing him talk like he still has another version of himself he wants to chase.
Pauly Shore and Bobby Lee Finally Air Out Their Comedy Store Feud
The most combustible stretch arrives when Shore explains why he had been pissed at Bobby in the first place. According to Pauly, the tension goes back to an Edmonton trip where he felt Bobby had become less gracious with people approaching him. Bobby’s response is immediate: that never happened.
What follows is exactly the kind of argument only longtime friends can have — accusations, denials, witnesses they try to call on the spot, and enough history underneath the jokes that the room starts wondering whether this is still a bit.
Bobby then flips the charge back on Pauly, accusing him of being a “rabble rouser” who likes to poke at people and start little fires. He says Shore had been trying to stir up a “war” with Bad Friends, while Pauly insists he has always supported him.
Then Bobby gets to the grievance he actually remembers: an introduction at the Comedy Store where he says Pauly told a sold-out room that Bobby had changed and was a terrible person. Bobby says the audience believed it, he went onstage cold, bombed, and spent the set getting angrier while thinking about Pauly.
Eventually they reach an actual deal. Bobby tells Shore that whatever is happening between them personally, the stage has to remain professional. Pauly agrees. Kumbaya — at least until the next fire.
Pauly Shore Reveals a Benign Pancreatic Tumor Was Found Early
The episode also revisits Shore’s previously disclosed health scare. He talks about undergoing a full-body scan after the death of his friend, filmmaker Sam Macaroni, and says the scan found a small tumor on his pancreas that was caught early.
Shore explains that surgeons at Cedars removed it and that the tumor was benign. He says doctors told him it may have been there for decades. The entire conversation shifts for a moment as he reflects on how lucky he was — and how another person’s death pushed him to get checked in the first place.
The Acid-Fueled Tour Bus Story Is Somehow Even Wilder Than It Sounds
Then comes the road story that sounds invented until everyone starts filling in the same details.
Pauly and Bobby remember comedian Jonathan, who they say was unknowingly given acid while traveling on Shore’s tour bus in Georgia. According to the story, Jonathan became convinced he was a wolf, jumped off the bus and ran into the woods, was tracked down and brought back — and then jumped off again.
The bus driver eventually refused to continue with him onboard because of the liability, so the group put him in a hotel while arranging for family to collect him. Bobby remembers talking to him in the early morning while he had moved a mattress against the hotel-room door because he believed somebody was after him.
It is funny in the retelling because everybody survived it, but even the room acknowledges how frightening it actually was. Shore says Jonathan later left comedy; the whole memory lands somewhere between road-warrior folklore and one of those stories you cannot believe anyone lived long enough to tell.
By the end, the old friends are laughing again, the feud is at least temporarily buried, and Pauly has somehow managed to revisit his health, his career, his mother’s legacy, Bobby’s rise, an acid-fueled road disaster and the possibility of another reinvention — all while dressed like he had somewhere far more civilized to be.
Watch Pauly Shore Explain His Next Career Move on TigerBelly
Pauly Shore returns to TigerBelly and says that after 40 years in stand-up, he wants to pull back from touring and focus more on acting, while also revisiting Bobby Lee, his health scare and decades of road stories.
Source: TigerBelly.
